Kashmiri mystic Lalleshwari, also known as Lal Ded, wandered naked, expressing her devotion to the divine in poetic outpourings. Her presence and aura were so overpowering that no one dared stop her. She was a woman who had liberated herself from mundane shackles and she went on to create history both in Kashmiri literature and spirituality. Could her gaze be described as female, as opposed to the male gaze, considering that she had risen above gender stereotypes and was not constrained by patriarchal societal expectations? Not really.
Lal Ded’s was a spiritual gaze that rose from her deep longing for the infinite; it’s just that she happened to belong to the female gender. If she were male, she might have been likened to the Persian mystic Jalaluddin Rumi, whose heartfelt love for the Divine, he expressed as would a lover, pining for his beloved. Was Rumi’s a male gaze? Not really. It just so happened that these outpourings came from someone who belonged to the male gender. The gaze of both Lal Ded and Rumi can be described as neutral gaze that had nothing to do with gender trappings.
When we talk about female gaze, we may be referring to the practice of seeing things from a woman’s inclusive point of view or experience, as opposed to the male gaze that stems from perhaps a more patriarchal, sexual, even selfish perspective. Women, by nature, are given to selfless, sensitive nurturing and caring, protecting and sustaining, whereas conventionally, men tend to be more aggressive, sexually (testosterone) driven, and incline towards insensitive domination. These are, of course, stereotypes, for you do have women and men who exhibit a mix of these qualities or more.
A softer, compassionate and empathetic female gaze need not be the preserve of the female (biological) gender. And an aggressive, not-so-caring, dominating, insensitive male gaze is also not the exclusive preserve of the male (biological gender).
You may see either gender exhibiting qualities of the other.
An equanimous mix of the two is what works best, and perhaps that is why we mirror this intersection of male and female energies, inter-connectedness and inter-being of genders in the form of Ardhanarishwara, half-male, half-female representation of Shiv and Shakti, Purusha and Prakriti. Being masculine or feminine is no longer cast in stone; these attributes have gained greater fluidity and adaptation both biologically and metaphorically. We are not talking about physical gender transformations as in transgenders but in the more metaphysical, psychological aspects that go to make up an individual’s personality. A so-called macho male could also be gentle and sweet, caring and nurturing. And a gentle, feminine woman could also be as hard as steel and unyielding, when it comes to decision-making and actions.
Yin and Yang of Taoism are symbolic of male and female energies that make up the composite whole. Moving beyond stereotypical gender descriptions, it is more instructive to see individuals for what they are via nature and nurture, how they think, act, and conduct themselves both in their personal and public spaces. The Atman, soul, has no gender. It is neutral, for it is neither male nor female. The soul is beyond societal and physical conscriptions and expectations. The higher Self, universal consciousness, is eternal, unchanging, all-inclusive and infinite. The neutral gaze is what works best.
Disclaimer
Views expressed above are the author’s own.
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